Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Show Winning Stripes PRAIRIE GROVE 49, WEST FORK 46
PRAIRIE GROVE — Prairie Grove swept its Colors Day basketball games, winning both the boys contest, 52-30, and the girls game, 49-46, on Friday against visiting West Fork.
Boys
Prairie Grove established a 36-24 lead at the end of the third quarter and went on to win, 52-30, in the first game played on Colors Day. The hometown Tigers were much better in the fourth quarter than their West Fork counterparts. Prairie Grove outscored the visitors 16-6 in the fourth to seal the win after building an early lead.
“We came out with good intensity, had a little bit of tweak with our lineup. The two guys that we replaced [in the starting five] both came off the bench for us. I thought both played really well,” said Prairie Grove boys coach Steve Edmiston. “Sometimes this early in the season you’re kind of looking for that right mix, and I think tonight we found a little something so hopefully that rotation is going to be a good one.”
Ethan Gross scored 16 points and Sloan Smith added 13 while Knox Laird chipped in 8 and Marco Martinez had 6.
PRAIRIE GROVE 52, WEST FORK 30
West Fork 8 11 5 6 — 30 Prairie Grove 14 10 12 16 — 52 Prairie Grove : Ethan Gross 6 2-2 16, Sloan Smith 5 1-3 13, Knox Laird 3 0-0 8, Marco Martinez 2 o-o 6, Blake Gardner 2 0-0 4, Landon Semrad 1 1-2 3, Colin Faulk 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 4-7 52.
West Fork: Individual totals not available. 3-Point Goals — Prairie Grove 8 (Gross 2, Smith 2, Laird 2, Martinez 2).
Girls
After falling behind 37-33 at the end of the third quarter, Prairie Grove rallied to outscore West Fork by nearly a 2- to-1 margin (16-9) in the fourth quarter to claim a nonconference girls basketball victory.
Trinity Dobbs scored 19 points for the Lady Tigers and Ella Faulk added 11.
“We’re showing some maturity. It was a great team effort. We had Trinity and Ella in foul trouble there in the second half and people come in and make plays and make some shots. The girls kept playing hard,” said Prairie Grove coach Kevin Froud. “We’re still not shooting like we’re capable of, but we’re playing good enough defense and making plays at the times when we need to.”
Zoe Hubbs made a pair of free
throws to pull the Lady Tigers within, 37-36, early in the fourth quarter and Faulk gave Prairie Grove the lead using a lateral dribble to free herself up for a short jump-shot.
Four ties occurred down the stretch and West Fork took the lead briefly, but Prairie Grove proved equal to every challenge. Arianna Harrel took a long pass and drew a foul. Her free throw tied the contest at 43-43. Dobbs broke a 46-46 tie with a foul shot then all but cinched a win with a steal and layup with 8.5 seconds remaining.
“Trinity stepped up and made a play when she had to and made a free throw. That’s just what we want,” Froud said. “Ella Faulk played a great game tonight. For her, she had no hesitation. Kenleigh Elder played a lot of minutes. Our younger kids are getting more experience playing at the senior
high level.”
West Fork missed a 3- point attempt in the final seconds and Prairie Grove celebrated victory.
For Dobbs, her defensive stop which she turned into points at the other end was a make-up play on her part.
“Well, I missed my second free throw so I knew I had to get that steal to secure the win,” Dobbs said.
West Fork 7 19 11 9 — 46 Prairie Grove 8 20 5 16 — 49 West Fork: Individual totals not available. Prairie Grove (0-1): Trinity Dobbs 5-18 8-11 19, Ella Faulk 5-11 0-1 11, Zoe Hubbs 1-4
4-4 6, Torie Price 1-5 1-2 4, Olivia Kestner
2-4 0-0 4, Kenleigh Elder 2-5 0-0 4, Arianna Harrel 0-2 1-2 1, Charity Stearman 0-1 0-0 0, Chloe Hillian 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 16-52 14-20 49. 3-point Goals — Prairie Grove — 3-15 (Price 1-3, Faulk 1-3, Dobbs 1-4, Harrell 0-1, Hillian 0-1, Stearman 0-1, Elder 0-1, Hubbs 0-1). Rebounds — Prairie Grove 7 (Hubbs 2). Assists — Prairie Grove 1 (Price). Steals — Prairie Grove 11 (Faulk 4). Blocks — Prairie Grove 0. Turnovers — Prairie Grove 8.